by Jonas Brorson, CMO, Safeture AB
Fences, locks, surveillance cameras, advanced alarm systems and security guards are a huge global business today. Many companies are investing most of their security budget on fixed assets and buildings, while at the same time employees are increasingly working outside the office without any effective protection.
Mobile and cloud technology mean daily operations can take place anywhere, but companies continue to protect an empty office chair instead of the employee that occasionally sits in it.
In Brussels in 2016, employees at a large international company were on their way to work – some traveled by metro, others walking. They had almost arrived when a bomb exploded near the EU headquarters in Berlaymont. The work to locate the company’s employees began immediately, but proved very difficult.
One of the first challenges was to find out who would definitely have been at work that day, as opposed to working from home, on a customer visit, meeting a supplier or on vacation. The information about work schedules, telephone numbers, addresses, travel bookings, holiday and sick leave was spread out in different departments in different countries. Outdated phone number lists made the work extra slow, and created great internal worry.
Safety and security are more important now than ever. Recent events worldwide show that serious incidents always happen without any warning, even in cities that were previously spared from terrorist acts and violence.
Although the rate of deaths from terrorism has fallen, its impact remains widespread, according to globalterrorismindex.com. In 2017, 67 countries experienced at least one death from terrorism, the second-highest number in the past 20 years.
The workplace has evolved far beyond office buildings and other premises. International trade is constantly increasing, and many companies have staff all over the world – and are tasked with the responsibility of safeguarding them whether they are at the office or on the road.
Large corporations face a tremendous duty of care in ensuring their workers’ safety and security, but processes are often ineffective and cumbersome. After a serious incident, it can often be difficult to quickly find important information. Perhaps several different departments are involved, or the data exists in different systems that do not talk to each other, and confusion quickly develops. Are phone numbers and addresses really correct? Who is responsible for keeping these records?
The fact that it has become so difficult to immediately find the right information is not so strange. Each department uses systems that best solve their specific work tasks, but systems that handle risk and crisis processes are frequently not prioritised.
To meet the demands from both authorities and employees, companies need to urgently invest in new technical solutions that can cope with today’s needs.
The new Safeture Enterprise platform is the result of unique market experience gained over many years, and was developed in close collaboration with clients in order to supply a solution that reflects their true needs.
It is a complete, cloud-based service to manage risk, safety, and crises involving employees. The platform has a vast number of functions and components that can be used off-the-shelf, such as mobile apps, travel tracking, flight updates, global real-time alerts, e-learning, bulk messaging, country and medical information, all within the same tool.
But it is also an open platform, which allows clients to adopt specific internal processes and integrate them with external suppliers, such as assistance providers, internal software, employment databases or intranets.
The Safeture Enterprise platform provides companies the ability to effectively and holistically automate safety, risk and crisis processes for their employees.
To find out more, please visit Safeture.com.
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